Heights
by Tibby Rose
Summary: she's never been afraid of them, just of falling from them.


**A/N: i miss quick. **

Quinn's never been afraid of heights.

She's a cheerleader and cheerleaders can't be afraid of heights.

So she looks down at the water below, twisting and twirling and savouring the alcohol on her tongue. She smiles at the boys who bought out here, the bad boys that remind her of him. The boys that her daddy warned her about when he was around.

She supposes she should've listened.

Quinn feels big arms push her forward then the wind rushing in her eyes and lastly, water dragging her beneath the waves.

She's never been afraid of heights, but she's always been afraid of falling from them.

...

Puck's lying in a bed with some girl he met the night before when he gets the phone call. He really hopes Rachel has a good reason for calling him because he'll take it out on Finn and pissed Rachel scares him.

"Is now the time, Berry?"

Her voice is stern but laced with sorrow, but she doesn't get straight to the point "Noah, please don't tell me you're with a girl."

" It's summer so as far as I see, it's not cheating. Now tell me what's up."

"There's been an accident."

And as Rachel tells him about Quinn falling off a cliff he feels as if he';s getting smaller. Smaller and smaller as he mouth begins to taste like sawdust and bile and the phone begins to slip from his fingers.

He jumps out of bed, throwing the phone against the wall and running out of the room and in to his truck, without a second glance at the girl because the only girl he really cares about is in the ICU in some hospital hours away.

...

He arrives before noon, and he feels like he's going to be sick. Whether it's because of the lack of sleep or because Quinn's dying, he doesn't know. But he doesn't really care either because _Quinn's in intensive care._

They don't tell him anything because he's not family and he wants to punch them but then they'll kick him out and he needs to know Quinn's okay. So he busies himself by fiddling with his thumbs and wondering how Rachel found out.

Her mother's there too, but she doesn't acknowledge him so he ignores her back. It's easier that way. He can just pretend that he's just waiting for Quinn to come back from the shops and they're married and in love and share an apartment away from Lima.

But they're not in love and they're not married and she's not at the shops and they're not in Lima but right now that's not a good thing. He's not entirely sure about the love part, because he loves her. But he's not sure she loves him back.

The rest of the club arrives and he realizes that he's not the only one who cares for Quinn. She had always told herself lies like that, believing no one loved her and no one cared for her. Lies. Along with everything else she had ever told him, except for maybe _You're a Lima Loser._

But he doesn't want to think about that right now. He doesn't want to think about anything except for maybe You're special and romantic. So he does. And Brittany and Rachel take his hands because they always knew, and Santana argues with doctors and Finn tries to reassure them all and the others just try and accept it. Finn is always wrong though, so Puck tells him to shut up and begins to cry and that's all any of them can hear.

...

A few hours pass and there's no news and Puck's ready to die himself because he has to know Quinn's okay. He has to because that's all he cares about.

But when a doctor does come out it's even worse because Quinn's not okay and they can say goodbye if they want but then that's it because she'll be gone.

He lets Judy and Finn and Brittany and Kurt and Mercedes and Rachel and Santana and everyone else go first, but the second Mike leaves the room he jumps up and pushes past him so he can see her one last time.

She has scratches all over her body and she's so bruised but she's as beautiful as ever and he wants to cry. So he does. And he cries for all the times they had, should've had, could've had.

The beeping gets slower so he finally chokes the words out, almost like a melody.

_I love you. _

Then the heart monitor goes flat.

_You've made it now  
>Falling slowly sing your melody<br>I'll sing it loud_


End file.
